


Icarus is Not a T-shirt or a Swan Song

by indevan



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Babies, Domestic, Future Fic, M/M, Near Death Experience, Polyamory, Surrogacy, Trans Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6106945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indevan/pseuds/indevan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aomine always thought he wasn't allowed to have good things.  Everything in his life was temporary, ready to be taken away at a moment's notice.  He thinks the same of his relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Icarus is Not a T-shirt or a Swan Song

**Author's Note:**

> this is within the same universe as [Expectations and Arrivals](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6043921) but you don't need to read that one to understand it.

Aomine had always been in trouble, always skirted close to the edge.  He remember when he was very little, maybe three, and he was over at Satsuki’s.  She had wanted to play Beauty and the Beast again with her pretty, plastic dolls but Aomine never liked taking off Beast’s costume and showing the prince beneath.  He thought he was cuter as a beast.  She got mad and he got mad so he sat by himself until his moms came home from work.  He saw it, then, on top of the high bookshelf in her living room.  What it was actually was lost on him now but he remembered a shining, shimmering globe and that he wanted it.  He scampered on the back of her father’s armchair and then jumped onto the bookshelf.  He carefully moved up the shelves and then, when he reached the top, he stuck his hand out to grab it.  At the same time his other hand slipped and he began to fall.

At that moment, his mother came home--letting herself in with the key the Momoi’s gave her--and saw him.  With lightning fast reflexes that had helped her back when she played basketball, she lunged forward and caught him.  Back then, his mother was larger than life and not just a nineteen-year-old who was stuck with a kid too soon.  She caught him and held him and said, “Daiki, why?” and he pointed up at the top of the bookshelf.

“My little Icarus,” she said with a soft laugh and he didn’t know what that was.

Later, then, in elementary school.  He got in fights a lot with the kids who saw Rei-chan or his mom drop him off and would taunt him.  It was unoriginal and not that clever.  Just taunts of “two moms, no dad!” as they chased him around the playground.  It was when they brought Satsuki in did he get actually vicious.  One time his mom was called in to speak to the principal because he bit a classmate.

“He kept calling Satsuki the wrong name,” he argued.

“Who’s Satsuki?”

He was so frustrated that he bared his teeth again. “ _ Satsuki _ .  Our  _ neighbor. _ ”

His mother’s eyebrows rose and he didn’t realize it then but he knew now that she got it.  She understood it and she accepted it.  The principal didn’t.

He said, “I think he’s referring to Momoi Satoru.”

That angered him even more.  He pounded his little fists into the armrests.

“Satsuki!”

He wasn’t allowed to go to school for two days but his mom carried him home and said she was proud of him for sticking up for her.

“My little fighter,” she said, “but you play with fire.”

In middle school, he finally got someone to ask about it.  Akashi just seemed to Know Things.  He knew more than Midorima, even.  One day, at practice, he asked him.

“What’s an Icarus?”

Akashi had been going for a shot and he paused, the ball kept between his hands.  He blinked red eyes curiously.

“What?” He twisted his mouth and said, “Icarus is a who.  Why do you want to know?”

“Just tell me.”

Akashi sighed.

“Icarus was the son of Daedelus.  They were both imprisoned in the labyrinth he had built because he gave the King’s daughter a way to kill the Minotaur.”

He spoke slowly, sounding out unfamiliar words that made Aomine’s brow bunch up.

“He escaped by building him and his son wings made out of wax.  Icarus flew too close to the sun and his wings melted so he fell to his death.”

Aomine wrinkled his nose.   _ That’s _ what his mom meant?  It hadn’t occurred to him until then that she had been joking.

“It’s a moral story,” Akashi continued, “Icarus’s pride in his own wings led to his death.  He flew too high.  Pride before the fall--literally.”

They watched their other teammates on the court and he heard Akashi whisper again, “Pride before the fall.”

These thoughts, fragments of his childhood, kept him up now.  He felt like his childhood pride (his rise, his descent) would haunt him into his adult years.  Things were not allowed to go well for Aomine Daiki.  Not for too long.  They would crack and crumble.  He lay in bed, strung between his two boyfriends and stared at the ceiling.  Kagami spooned him from behind, making him have to cock his neck at an odd angle to stare upwards.  Kuroko was on his other side, tucked under his arms.  Warm puffs of breath ghosted over his chest and Aomine tried to count them.  Tried to use them to capture sleep.

Everything was too good now.  He was a starting power forward for the Lakers.  His boyfriend ran a successful catering business.  He was in love with two amazing men.  And yet.  Yet.  Something bad had to happen.  Life couldn’t be this good for him.  He would blow out his knee or get hit by a car.  Something.  Kuroko had been tense lately, distant.  Maybe he was planning on breaking up with them.  He closed his eyes.  That could be it.  A way to end their blissful years together as a unit.

“Dai-kun, you’re awake?”

He opened his eyes to find Kuroko looking up at him.  He was a light sleeper, that one, compared to him and Kagami who would sleep through the world ending.

“Did I wake you?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry.”

Kuroko shifted against him, flung his leg over Aomine so he could nudge Kagami with his toes.  He always liked to be touching both of them at once.

“It’s fine.  Are you alright?”

“Just thinking.”

He didn’t look convinced.  Aomine could see the set of his mouth and the way his eyebrows lowered in the gloom.

“Go back to sleep, Tetsu.”

“I can’t sleep either.” He smiled a little, his teeth glinting. “We can wake up Tai-kun and have him tire us out.”

“Good luck with that.”

As if to exemplify his point, Kagami snuggled his chin further on Aomine’s shoulder and let out a sleepy sigh.  They didn’t speak again.  He just held Kuroko to his chest before sleep did indeed take him again.  Aomine stared up at the ceiling and wondered if it would end.

\--

He had the day off and they had a housekeeper and someone to mind Nigou so he had truly nothing to do.  Kagami was at the bakery out of which they ran their business.  Usually he only worked catered dinners since Murasakibara was the pastry chef and Himuro ran the business part but the two of them were at a doctor’s appointment.  Murasakibara’s older sister had agreed to become their surrogate a few months back and she was now living with them until the baby was born.  Being excited fathers to be, they both wanted to be at her appointments.  Kuroko worked as a reader and PA at some actor’s pet project agency.  Between his basketball salary and Kagami’s commissions, he didn’t have to work but he liked to keep busy.  It also allowed him to work with his maternal cousin whose parents had moved to America and cut off contact with the Japanese branch of the family.  Yuina had become Kuroko’s best friend, strangely enough, in the time since they’d been here.

Aomine went into the living room, passing the framed covers of magazines he was featured in.  Most notably, and his favorite, was the cover of  _ OUT _ .  He looked good in it: shirtless and greased up with his pants slung low on his hips and a ball tucked under his forearm.  His head was cocked to the side as he hitched his chin.  Overlaid on his abs were the words:  _ Los Angeles Laker Daiki Aomine talks about coming to America, his two boyfriends, and being the bisexual son of two women _ .  It was a bit sensationalized but he had liked that interview.  It was easy to talk about himself and not his attempts at team play in the NBA.

He began to walk again but paused when his phone vibrated in his pocket.  Aomine dug around for it in his basketball shorts until he produced it.

**Taiga:** have a meeting w a client at bhh wana meet me after for lunch?

He smiled at the text and tapped in his answer.  At least he had something to do now and having lunch with one of his boyfriends was always something he was up for, anyway.

**Taiga:** we have 2 talk btw

Aomine’s smile faltered.

**(You:)** bout what?

The reply was instantaneous.

**Taiga:** ill tell you in person

He chewed his lip as he went back into their room to change into clothes that were suitable for lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel.  On the drive over, he kept wondering what it was Kagami wanted to talk about.  Did Kuroko already speak to him about breaking up?  Was Aomine being kicked out so the two of them could get married?  By the time he pulled up to the doors and handed his keys to the valet, he had worked himself up into a frenzy.  They were leaving him, he knew it.  Their love couldn’t last (love between three people?  Really?) and he was going to be left behind.

Still, he squared his shoulders as he walked in.  Aomine Daiki wasn’t someone who went down without a fight.  He found Kagami waiting for him in the Polo Lounge.  The afternoon sun was picking out gold threads in his hair and Aomine bit his lip.  He looked good.  Good enough to kiss Aomine off for good.

“Hey, babe,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant.  He dropped a kiss on his mouth before slipping into the seat across from him.  Warily, he asked, “What’s up?”

Kagami stirred his straw in his water glass, making the ice clink.  Finally, he sighed.

“Tetsu wants a baby.”

That he hadn’t been expecting.  Aomine blinked at him once, twice, and then once more for good measure.

“A baby?”

Kagami nodded. “He told me this morning.”

While Aomine was still asleep after his exhaustion finally took him.

“He did?”

“Yeah.  I said, ‘I’ll see you tonight’ and he said, ‘I want a baby.  Tell Dai-kun.’”

That was typical Kuroko.  So typical that he almost laughed.

“And then I’m guessing he just left.”

“Yep.”

Aomine chewed the inside of his cheek.

“What do you think?”

“I think I’m gonna get the wagyu burger.  It sounds good.”

He let out a frustrated sound deep in his throat.

“About the baby, shithead.”

“Oh.” Kagami scratched the side of his head. “It caught me off-guard but.  I wouldn’t be opposed to it.”

It wasn’t that surprising that Kuroko was thinking about children.  Kise and his husband had one and Akashi and Furihata were planning on their second.  Now Himuro and Murasakibara were awaiting on a little one.  It had to be fresh in his mind.

“Neither would I.”

Kagami raised a brow. “Dude, you’re tearing up the coaster.”

Aomine looked down and saw shreds of paper in his hands.  He laid them flat, palm down on the table.  He chewed his lip and thought about it.  He wasn’t being cast out.

“How’s it gonna work with the three of us?”

He shrugged. “We’ll figure out logistics.”

The waiter came and Aomine ordered a beer and the club sandwich.  Kagami did indeed order his burger.  He heard gossiping to his left after the waiter left and knew that someone had recognized him.

“I’m already gonna be an uncle,” he continued, “but I would wanna be a dad.”

Aomine felt another surge of worry.  Kagami and Kuroko would be natural parents but he had no idea how to raise a kid.  His own father didn’t even know that he existed until he was sixteen.

“Yeah,” he said glumly.

“Can the self-pity,” Kagami said with a wave of his hand. “I am not dealing with that.  None of us are gonna be great at first and we’ll figure it out.  Together.”

He said it with such conviction that Aomine had to smile.  That was part of the reason he had fallen so hard for Kagami back then, back when he was relearning everything with Kuroko.  He wasn’t just his rival on the court but he had this indomitable spirit that made him grin.

“So we talk to Tetsu when he gets home?” Kagami asked.

“Yeah.”

He had to get used to Kagami calling him Tetsu, too.  That had always been Aomine’s name for him but, back when they all lived together, Kagami tried Tetsuya but it had led to some awkward misunderstandings with Himuro.  It had been a few years but it still caught him off guard now and then.

Kagami reached across the table and Aomine took his hand.  Whoever was giggling about him--probably some students from the nearby high school--started snapping pictures with their phones.

“Hey, Taiga?” he asked.

“Yeah?” Kagami ran his thumb over the hills and valleys of Aomine’s knuckles.

“Can I have a bite of your burger?”

He smiled sweetly and said, “Fuck no.”

\--

When Aomine got home, he wasn’t surprised to see Kuroko stretched out on the couch with Nigou in his lap.  He was, though, surprised to see someone else there.

“Yuina?” he asked, incredulous.

Kuroko’s cousin smiled in that way that was always eerily reminiscent of his boyfriend’s.  She and Kuroko looked almost exactly the same except for her long hair and the large pair of breasts that Aomine had to stop himself from staring at from time to time.  She also was far more energetic and much louder than her cousin, though that wasn’t hard.

“Hey, Daiki,” she said with her usual sunshine smile. “What’s up?”

He wanted to talk about what he told Kagami this morning but it was awkward with Yuina there.

“Tai-kun won’t be home for another hour or so,” he said as if Aomine didn’t already know that. “But.”

He patted the seat next to him on the couch and he dropped into it.  Kuroko smiled and held his hand.

“Did you talk to him today?” he asked.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat and glanced at Yuina. “He told me about.  Y’know.”

“The baby,” Kuroko clarified. “Well, this is about that but.  I want to wait for Tai-kun to get here.”

He and Yuina exchanged a smile.  On one hand, Aomine was glad that Kuroko had found a friend in Los Angeles outside of them but he wasn’t particularly fond of Yuina.  It was probably because he expected her to have Kuroko’s personality to match her looks but whenever she spoke, he was instead reminded of Kise.

The three of them made small talk until Kagami came home and he came to swoop down and kiss them both.

“Hey,” he said to Yuina.  He glanced sideways at Aomine who shrugged.

Kuroko sat up as straight as he could with a full grown malamute on his lap and looked at them both.

“For a while now, I have been thinking about having a child.  All three of us.  And I decided to bring it up this morning.  What do you think?”

He looked at them both and a look so hopeful passed on his face that Aomine felt his heart melt.

“Daiki and I talked about it at lunch,” Kagami said, “and we’d both be okay with it.”

Kuroko narrowed his eyes.

“‘Be okay with it’ or want one?  I don’t want to push it on you both if you aren’t sure.”

Aomine and Kagami locked eyes and he felt it pass between them, unspoken.  He had his trepidations but he would do anything for Kuroko and so would Kagami.

“We want this,” Kagami said and Aomine nodded.

A wide, genuine smile broke out on Kuroko’s face.  Yuina clapped her hands excitedly.

“Yes!  Now which one?”

“Which one what?” Kagami asked.

She flicked some light blue hair over her shoulder and said, “Which one of you is knocking me up?”

“Huh?”

Aomine furrowed his brow and tilted his head to the side.

“Yuina-san is going to be our surrogate,” Kuroko explained. “So, obviously, the sperm has to come from one of you.”

“I’ll just go lie on the bed and open my legs.” She grinned. “Surprise me.”

Yuina laughed and Kuroko shook his head.

“We’ll start setting things up soon,” he said. “Plenty of time to decide.”

He said that but Aomine felt like time suddenly sped up.  He felt like he was in Zone, where time didn’t matter.  His chest began to constrict and he felt the solid warmth of a hand on his shoulder.  He looked up to see Kagami smiling at him.  Aomine sagged on the couch in relief but he couldn’t help but feel that this was the disaster he thought was coming.

\--

Aomine waited impatiently for the phone to connect.  He tapped his foot against the floor and scowled.  Finally, the ringing stopped.

“Hello?”

“Hey, mom.”

“Daiki!  Hold on.  Let me put you on speaker so we can both talk to you.”

Within moments, he heard both of his mothers speaking to him.  He smiled.  Despite the childhood taunts, he was never ashamed of his parents.  His mother had gotten pregnant with him in high school when fear of her parents and colleges finding out about her relationship with Rei had had her try and pretend to be straight with the captain of the boys’ basketball team.  They had raised him together and he loved them both.  The only reason he called one mom and one Rei-chan was because he was sick of the confusing “mom?”/”yes?”/”not you, the other one” issue.  They were both his mothers as far as he was concerned, regardless of who actually gave birth to him.  He hoped that it would be the same with their child.  They would all be fathers, no matter what.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Well...you’re gonna be grandmothers.”

There was a pause before he heard Rei-chan said, “You’re shitting us.”

“I’m not.  Tetsu’s cousin is our surrogate and we just found out that she is carrying either my or Taiga’s kid.”

There was another pause before he heard stereo squealing on the other end.  He pulled the phone away from his ear and cringed.

“Daiki, we’re so excited for you!”

They exchanged a few more words before he disconnected with the promise of a Skype call.  Kagami was currently out telling  _ his _ parents the news.  Aomine never saw them, really.  They were fine with their son being gay but they didn’t really understand him being in a relationship with two men.  So, at all costs, Aomine avoided them.  Kuroko did the same.  He had also called his mother since his father liked to pretend that they had no son and were on a constant, extended honeymoon.

Aomine paged down to another number he had to call who was just as important in his life as his mothers.

“Dai-chan, you better have a good reason for waking me up.”

“I’m gonna be a dad.”

There was a long pause and then, “You’re shitting me.”

There was a reason he loved Momoi as much as he did.  She was his sister, his best friend.  The reason why he bit a kid in elementary school.

He explained the situation to her and she immediately switched to squealing with excitement.

“I’ll visit you once the baby’s born,” she promised. “If work allows.”

“Alright.” He had a suspicion that she and Yuina would get along really well and having two of them in the same room was scary. “Get back to sleep.”

“Alright--love you.”

“You, too.”

He hung up and settled back on the couch.  Nigou trotted over and hopped up next to him.  Aomine scratched him behind the ears.  He was getting used to the idea of a new baby.  Still, he couldn’t shake this feeling of impending doom.  Something was going to happen and he was scared of what it was.

“Daiki!”

Yuina burst into the living room with all the exuberance of a puppy.

“Hey,” he said with a stifled yawn.

“Sex during pregnancy is fine, right?” she asked.

“Yeah.  I mean, to a point, I guess.” He didn’t know where she was going with this.

“Oh, good.  Because I met this girl at the gym when I was signing up for prenatal yoga classes and we kind of did it against the wall.”

That sort of cavalier spirit actually was something he admired about Kuroko’s cousin.

“I didn’t want to bring any harm to this little one,” she said and put both hands on her stomach.  She smiled down and it was reasons like this why he couldn’t really hate her.  She really did want to help them.

“So was she hot?” Aomine asked.

Yuina grinned devilishly and nodded.

“Nice.”

“Yeah.  I mean, I gotta get it where I can.  I don’t have one and a half people I can always get it from.”

“And a half?”

“Sexually,” she clarified. “Since Taiga’s demi.”

“Ah.”

He didn’t exactly agree with that but he also didn’t feel like arguing right now.

“Wanna get dinner?” Yuina asked. “I’m starving and I think I can keep up with you now that I can eat whatever I want.”

“You’re on.”

\--

Aomine didn’t want to say it out loud or else risk getting crushed but he was glad that the three of them got a practice baby.  Tatsumi was beautiful, though, with her glossy violet hair and wide, expressive gray eyes.

“She is going to be very tall,” Kuroko mused.

“We know,” Himuro said with a touch of pride. “Atsushi’s the shortest one in his family, you know.”

Aomine snorted into his glass.  He found that hard to believe.

“They call him peanut.  It’s adorable.”

Murasakibara made a little keening noise and rubbed his forehead against Himuro’s shoulder.

“Tatsu-chin, don’t tell them that!”

He laughed and raised a hand to stroke his husband’s hair.  Aomine remembered how one time, back when they were living together, that Himuro was like them.  He could love and be with multiple people at a time in a happy relationship.  The thing was, though, was that Murasakibara was monogamous to a fault.  He loved Himuro and only Himuro and so he was fine with that.  Aomine wondered if he could do that.  Choose just Kuroko or just Kagami.  Back in high school, it would have been a no-brainer.  Now, he couldn’t think to pick between them.

“Carefull with her.”

He came out of his reverie to see Himuro handing little Tatsumi over to Kagami.  He gingerly took her, one big hand supporting her head.  He brought her to his chest and looked down with a smile.

“Hi,” he said softly, “I’m your Uncle Taiga.”

Aomine watched him gently rock her.  The baby smiled toothlessly up at him and giggled.  He felt fingers dig into his forearm and he looked down to see Kuroko had come up next to him.

“Look,” he whispered.

He was looking.  Kagami looked perfectly suited with Tatsumi in his arms.  She was nestled up against his broad chest and she was reaching for him.  Her tiny fist locked around the chain at his neck and began to pull.

“Aagh!” he cried and the moment was over.

Himuro laughed and made his way over.

“She does this to me, too.” He thumbed his own chain and carefully unfurled her little fingers from Kagami’s necklace.

He took her back and gently cradled her in his arm.  Kagami centered his ring on his necklace.

“I was just worried about her getting it in her mouth.  I shower in this thing so I’m sure it’s all nasty.”

Himuro nodded. “Tatsumi is always trying to put things in her mouth and eat them.  I don’t know where she gets it from.”

He smiled wryly and looked over to his husband who was opening a fresh bag of chips.

“Were you nervous, Himuro-san?” Kuroko asked.

“Dude, we’ve been friends for years,” he said with a laugh. “We were roommates.  We kept accidentally seeing each other naked because of wacky name-related hijinks.  You don’t have to be so formal.”

Kuroko blushed and bit his lip.

“Well, were you though?”

Himuro glanced down at Tatsumi and smiled.

“Yeah.  We both were.”

“I was afraid I would crush her when the doctors handed her to me,” Murasakibara said through a full mouth.

“And.  I dunno.  I have my own issues, y’know?”

Kuroko nodded.  Aomine knew he was looking at them both.

“Yuina should be getting close, right?” Himuro asked, “Mimi is five months and she got pregnant when Atsumi was in her third trimester.”

Aomine didn’t need the reminder.  Their baby was coming soon.  He still had reservations about himself.  He was raised well and he still got in trouble his entire life.  What was their kid gonna end up like with him for a dad?

“You aren’t doing this alone, Dai-kun,” Kuroko said, quietly enough so only he could hear. “I know you’re nervous but you have us both.”

He squeezed his hand and smiled at him.  Aomine squeezed back.

\--

“The baby’s Taiga’s,” Aomine decided.

Kuroko nestled against him, his forehead creased in worry.

“What makes you say that?”

“Yuina has to have a c-section.  The baby has to have his giant head.”

Kagami scowled and punched him in the arm but it lacked any anger or heat.  They were tired and they were nervous.  Yuina’s labor had been going fine until the doctors began rushing around and saying things like “emergency c-section.”  Now they were waiting for her to come out of surgery.  Aomine was scared.  He had been a c-section baby.  When he was little, he would crawl into his mothers’ bed and she would show him her scar.  “You were in such a hurry to come out, Daiki, and I was so small” she would say as she stroked his hair.

“At least our baby can kill Macbeth,” Kuroko said quietly.

“Huh?” He and Kagami both looked at him.

“Never mind.”

A doctor came in and looked at them all.

“Which one of you is the father?”

Aomine glanced at his boyfriends and frowned. “Uh.”

“I’m her cousin and closest family,” Kuroko cut in. “You can tell me.”

The doctor nodded, seemingly accepting this.

“Well, both mother and baby are fine--I’ll start with that.  The baby’s umbilical cord had wrapped around his neck, which is why we performed the c-section.”

Aomine felt his chest unclench.  The baby was fine.

“His?” Kagami asked. “It’s a boy?”

The doctor nodded.

“Yes.  Would you like to see him?”

They leapt to their feet in unison and followed the doctor into Yuina’s room.  She was asleep on the bed and, to Aomine, she looked like a ghost.  Her skin was washed out and dark circles ringed her eyes.  The baby was being looked over by a nurse who was recording his measurements and weight.

“One of them is the father,” the doctor said. “I’m guessing not the little one since he’s her cousin.”

“Oh, my God, you’re Daiki Aomine!” the nurse cried. “No wonder there’s press camped outside.”

Aomine walked over to the carrier where the baby was sleeping.  He looked.  So, so small.  He had tufts of powder blue hair and warm brown skin.

“He’s yours,” Kagami said from behind him. “Meaning it was  _ your _ giant head, asshole.”

He heard a note of sadness in his voice, though, and Aomine drew him in close, wrapping his arm around his waist.

“He’s  _ ours _ ,” he insisted. “Mine, yours, and Tetsu’s.”

A small smile tugged on Kagami’s lips and Kuroko came up to join them, coming in on his other side.

“He kind of has your eyebrows, Tai-kun,” he said quietly.

Aomine looked again and, sure enough, he saw the smallest fork in the baby’s eyebrows.

“How is that even possible?”

“It’s not.  But they do look like yours a little,” Aomine said.

It took another two days for the baby to be cleared to go home.  In that time, the three of them were able to settle on a name.  They named him Kouta, writing his name both in English and Japanese on the birth certificate.  That had been Kuroko’s idea so he could specify that it was using the kanji for “light.”  For his surname, they decided on Kagami’s.

“Like Kim Kardashian!” Yuina exclaimed once they told her.

Aomine knew it was because the baby shared no DNA with him and so Kuroko had wanted him to have his name but he laughed when she said it anyway.  He would have to be nice to her considering what she went through to give them a baby.

“Thank you,” Kuroko told her tearfully. “For everything.”

She smiled. “Of course.”

\--

The second they were able to, they took Kouta to the beach.  Kagami held him over the waves and he’d cycle his little arms and legs, giggling excitedly.  Aomine lay stretched out on a towel next to Kuroko, enjoying the view.  He took his phone out and framed a shot of him and Kouta.

Kuroko hummed happily and leaned against him.

“Our little family,” he murmured. “I’m so happy.”

Kagami came over with Kouta tucked under one arm.  His hair was darker from the ocean spray and salt was trying on him in spirals.  Aomine wanted to lick it off him.  Kuroko pinched him as if he could sense his thoughts.

“Not while he’s holding the baby.”

“How did you know?”

“Because I was thinking it too.”

Kagami made it to their towel set up and held Kouta aloft over his head.

“Who wants him?”

Kuroko held his arms out and Kagami placed the baby in them before stretching out between them.

“You should enjoy the surf,” he said as he closed his eyes.

“I hate getting sand in my ass,” Aomine replied.

Kagami reached forward and pulled the waistband of his speedo out and then snapped it.

“You wear this and think sand isn’t gonna get trapped in there.”

He shook out his own surfer jams and then stretched his arms above his head.

“When are the others coming?” Kuroko asked.  He kept lifting his head to keep his hair away from Kouta’s grasping hands.

“My moms and Satsuki are coming this weekend,” Aomine replied. “And Akashi said he’s flying everyone else out the week after.”

“Our old teammates are coming the weekend after that,” Kagami filled in.  He glanced at Kuroko’s struggle and added, “You need help there?”

Kouta now fully had two handfuls of blue hair grasped in his tiny fists.  Kuroko had his jaw clenched as he tried to pull him away gently.

“A little, yes.”

Kagami sat up and dislodged his hands, brushing his little palms to make sure there wasn’t any hair sticking to them.  He turned and offered him to Aomine.

“Your turn.”

Aomine looked at the infant and how Kouta held his hands out to him, smiling wide.  He was perhaps the happiest baby Aomine had ever seen--not that he had seen terribly many babies.  He took took him into his arms and Kouta grabbed at the snapback he was wearing.

“You can’t have,” Kagami said in a cutesy baby voice. “No.”

Kuroko smiled affectionately and Aomine fell backwards onto his towel trying to avoid him.  Little grasping hands with what felt like claws smacked at his face.  He held Kouta out as far as he could and sat up.

“Ha!” he cried triumphantly.

“Congratulations--you’ve defeated our infant son.”

Kouta responded by swinging his arm out and trying to grab Kagami’s chain.

\--

Never had Aomine thought of their house as small.  It was big enough for all of them and Kouta as well as for Nigou to have his own doggy room.  At this moment, though, it was filled to the brim.  Alex had come with her girlfriend to coo over both Kouta and Tatsumi.  Along with them were his former middle school teammates and their respective partners.  And their children.  Himeko seemed fascinated with Kouta and kept dragging a disgruntled-looking Kyou after her.

“Cute, cute, cute, cute!” she kept chanting.

Kyou lifted his nose with about as much disdain as a three-year-old could muster.  It was funny since he looked like Furihata, Kuroko’s twitchy former teammate, but he carried himself exactly like Akashi.

“So you’re planning on number two?” Kuroko asked.

At the mention of his name, Nigou perked his head up from where it rested on the couch’s armrest.  When he saw that no one was actually calling him, he dropped it back down.

Akashi nodded. “Kouki wanted Kyou to have a sibling.  So he started meeting with his therapist again.”

Furihata put both hands on his stomach and gestured to Akashi before putting a finger to his lips.  Aomine noticed it and smirked.  Ah, so it went beyond planning.  He remembered Kuroko saying that his other old teammate, Izuki, had done the same thing for him and his partner, Hayama, but was too dysphoric to try it again.

He turned his attention to the babies again.  Some, like Himeko and the daughter that Midorima and Takao adopted, were just walking.  Tatsumi apparently was able to crawl but she seemed to prefer to lay on her blanket on her stomach and drag toys towards her.  Kyou was walking around like a young lord and Kouta was nestled safely in Momoi’s arms.  Although she had come over with his moms, she had opted to stay a bit longer.  He suspected she really wanted to try and hook up with Yuina and he wasn’t going to stop her.

“I want.” Himeko held her arms out and made grabbing gestures with her hands.

Kise laughed and ruffled her head of dark curls.  Aomine smirked.  Naturally the child of Kise would become fixated on Kuroko’s kid.  Kasamatsu sighed and picked Himeko up.

“You can’t have Kouta,” he said. “but if daddy gets his way, there might be another baby soon.”

Kise grinned and made a v-sign with his fingers to denote that he always got his way.  Midorima shook his head and adjusted his glasses.

“You can’t give in to every one of her whims,” he said with an air of superiority.

Korogi let out a squawk as Tatsumi dragged one of her toys away from her and went toddling over to her father’s long legs.  Midorima looked down and scooped her up without a moment’s hesitation.

“Yes, my little lucky item?”

Takao covered his mouth to try and hide his giggle.

“You try saying no to Kise,” Kasamatsu said.

Korogi perked up in her father’s arms and turned to Kise.

“No,” she said seriously.

Takao burst into laughter.  Kise pouted and went over to where Kasamatsu was holding Himeko.

“Well, at least I have my little girl,” he cooed, stroking her curls.

“No,” Himeko chirped.

Kise let out a woeful cry and dropped his head on Kasamatsu’s shoulder.  Aomine looked at all of them.  Everyone happy and everyone in pairs of twos.  They were the only outliers.  He looked at Kouta who was now being held by both Kagami and Kuroko.  They looked like a perfect picture of true love.  And where did that leave Aomine?

A knife sharp finger prodded him in the back.  He whipped around to glare at Momoi.

“What?”

“You’re brooding.”

“So?”

She sighed and drew him off to the side.

“What’s wrong?”

Aomine scowled.  He had never been able to hide anything from Momoi--ever.

“I still feel.” He turned his mouth down. “Left out.  Like right now they’re just humoring me before they get married and live happily ever after.”

Momoi scowled back.  She crossed her arms.

“That’s bullshit and you know it.  You’ve all been together for years.  Tetsu-kun wouldn’t--neither of them would.” She glared at him and added, “The three of you are meant to be together.  All three.”

He knew she was right but, as he looked over at them both, he still couldn’t shake this feeling of dread.

\--

Kagami hadn’t been kidding when he said that he was excited that their new place was closer to the beach.  He made them go every weekend that Aomine didn’t have a game.

“I think he was pent up, living in Tokyo,” Kuroko said.  Kouta sat in his lap between Kuroko’s outstretched legs.  He held a tiny shovel and was waving it around. “And our old place was a good forty minutes from the beach.”

Aomine picked up a handful of and and dropped it into Kouta’s bucket.  He made a happy little squawk.

“What about before I got here?”

They didn’t speak often of “the time.”  The time where Aomine’s basketball scholarship had gotten him into a college in America but on the east coast.  He had had to brave New England winters while Kagami and Kuroko went to UCLA.

“We lived in a tiny walk-up in Rampart Village and barely had any time to do anything.”

Aomine nodded and glanced out at the shimmering horizon.  He could barely see Kagami out there on the waves.  He preferred when he was closer and he could make him out better since he looked good when he surfed.  Plus, the further out he went the more worried he got.  Sharks ate surfers all the time, right?

“Da...da!” Kouta waved his shovel out at sea, grinning.

“That’s right,” Kuroko said with a smile. “Your daddy’s out there.”

Aomine looked down at Kouta.  Now that he was a little older, he really did look like Kuroko with his soft blue hair and similarly tinted eyes.  He still had his complexion, though, and Kuroko wasn’t lying when he said his eyebrows almost looked like Kagami’s.  The baby only really had his DNA (he honestly had no idea what was similar or not when it came to cousins) but he liked that he sort of looked like all three of them.

He looked back out at the waves and didn’t see Kagami.  He didn’t let it bother him.  He was proudly floating out there, waiting to paddle into another swell.

“Lifeguard!  Lifeguard!”

Aomine looked over to see a guy splashing out of the ocean.  He still had his surfboard tethered to his ankle as he flopped comically onto shore.  He ripped the leash off and pounded towards the lifeguard tower.

“Help!” he cried.

“Where’s Tai-kun?” Kuroko asked.

“Hmm?” Aomine tore his gaze away from the man.

“I don’t see him.”

“I wiped out into a guy and he crashed on the rocks!”

The lifeguard was already on her way out there.  The guy from before had someone grabbed his phone and was yelling into it for an ambulance.

“You don’t think…” Aomine said.

“I don’t know.  I don’t.” He bent down and hugged Kouta gently.

Aomine stroked his arm. “It’ll be alright, Tetsu.  Taiga’s probably helping the guy.  You know how annoyingly selfless he can be.”

Kuroko’s hand locked around his forearm and he saw that he was shaking.  He put his hand over top of his.

The ambulance arrived as the lifeguard got back on shore.  Aomine’s heart was in his throat and his head swam as he saw who was with her.  Kagami looked beaten to shit.  Bloody and bruised--and unconscious.  Kuroko handed Kouta to him and raced over.

“Sir, please move out of the way,” an EMT said.

Aomine was surprised he even saw him.  Maybe his worry was emanating off of him so strongly that it overruled his weak presence.

They loaded Kagami up in the ambulance and Aomine stood on their beach towels, staring.  Kouta seemed to feel the tension in him and started crying.

“I need to go with you,” Kuroko said.  He was too distraught to even try to use his misdirection. “Please.”

He cast a terrified, panicked stare to Aomine.

“Only family can ride--”

“He’s my husband!”

Aomine felt a lump in his throat.  Kuroko considered Kagami his husband.  He had never called him anything other than his boyfriend.  Of course.  Of fucking course.  He cursed himself, then, for letting his own jealousy supercede his worry.  Kagami was--

“Dai-kun,” he said, “Take Kouta home and then meet me at the hospital.”

The doors of the ambulance shut.  Aomine couldn’t help but think that this was the disaster he had been worried about.

\--

He had called Yuina to watch Kouta even though they had a nanny.  She had come without a moment’s hesitation.  He changed into real clothes and drove to the hospital as fast as he could.  He came in to find Kuroko in the waiting room, on the phone.  His brow was drawn in and he looked more angry than upset.  When he saw him, he hung up.  He jumped to his feet and threw his arms around his neck.

“Dai-kun,” he whispered and stood up on his tiptoes to kiss him.

“Where is he?”

“Surgery.” Kuroko’s face paled. “I called Himuro-san and.  And his parents.  He’s on his way but I don’t know if they’re coming.”

That rankled him.  He put an arm around Kuroko and directed him back to his seat.  Everything felt out of place, out of time.  He was wracked with worry and envy to the point where his body felt leaden.

“You called him your husband.”

He didn’t mean to speak it out loud but Kuroko tensed up next to him.

“Yes,” he said, “I consider you both my husbands.  I know...the three of us can never be married but it makes me happy to think of you both that way.”

“Oh.”

“Dai-kun.”

Kuroko was looking at him in that disarming way of his.  His face was red-streaked with tears and his eyes were puffy but he still looked like he could see straight into Aomine’s soul.

“I love you equally.  You’re both important to me and to think of being without either of you…” He trailed off and stared at the carpet of the waiting room.

His shoulders began to shake with sobs again and Aomine pulled him close.  He could deal with his insecurities later.  Later when Kagami was awake.

“He’ll be fine.  Our boy is made of tougher stuff than a bunch of rocks.”

Aomine kissed his temple.

A short time later, Himuro came.  He smelled like baked goods and the eye Aomine could see was wide with worry.

“Where is he?” he demanded.

“Surgery,” Kuroko said.

“What happened?”

“Someone crashed into him while he was surfing.  He wiped out on rocks.” Kuroko spoke it in a way to sound removed but his voice wavered.

Aomine squeezed his hand.

\--

Kagami’s parents didn’t come until after he came out of surgery.  Kuroko had argued with the doctor to get a wristband that allowed him to stay with him past visiting hours.  The man had given them only one so Aomine would have to leave.

“Stay with Kouta,” he told him with a kiss. “He needs one of us tonight.”

He left the room and found his parents in the waiting room.  Himuro sat with them, a scowl on his face.  Apparently, Kagami’s parents had never liked him and claimed he was a bad influence on their son.

“Is he alright?” his father asked.

Kagami’s father was a big man, even bigger than his son.  He was broad-chested and even the nice suits he wore didn’t hide his physique.

“Yeah, they think so.”

Aomine stepped around them warily, feeling like he was going to be attacked.

“Tetsu’s in there with him,” he said.

“And you aren’t?” his mother asked. “I thought the three of you were…”

She bit her lip and looked away.  Himuro snorted a bitter laugh.

“Only one person can stay and I’m going home to our son.” He narrowed his eyes. “Your grandson.”

His father glared right back.

“That child--”

“What?” he said. “What about our son?  He’s a baby.  You’re gonna spread your nasty prejudiced bullshit onto a baby?”

“Watch your mouth.”

“No.  You were fine when Taiga came out to you but you get all uppity and freaked out because he’s with me and Tetsu?”

“It’s not nomal,” his mother said, “and we’re not having this discussion right now.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re in a hospital!” she cried.

Aomine exhaled.  Fine.  This wasn’t the place to confront them.  They would change their minds or they wouldn’t.  He scowled and stormed off towards the entrance to the hospital.

\--

He didn’t get any sleep that night.  It was just him and Nigou on the bed with the baby monitor close by.  Sometimes he hated the off-season.  He had too much time to think and stew and wonder.  His own thoughts came back.  His memories like so many months earlier.  How he was always in trouble.  How good things eluded him.  Maybe Kagami’s parents were right.  Maybe they all were their own Icarus, thinking they could have this and make it last.

Dawn came and he still hadn’t gotten any sleep.  A stirring on the monitor clued him in that Kouta was awake.  As he was changing him and getting ready to set up his bottle, his phone vibrated.

**Tetsu:** he’s awake and wants to see you

Aomine stared at those words and exhaled.  Kagami was awake.  He turned to Kouta and smiled.

“Daddy’s okay,” he said.

He squawked and clapped his hands.  He put Kouta in his car seat and drove to the hospital, unable to stop himself from brooding.  He didn’t know why it still bothered him after all this time and after Kuroko’s words.  The three of them would go on together but for how long?  Their arrangement couldn’t be indefinite.  He looked at Kouta in the rearview mirror.  His carseat faced the other way but he could see his little face reflected in his baby mirror.  No, Kagami’s parents were wrong.  His own insecurities were wrong.

He got his visitor pass and carried Kouta into the room.  Kuroko sat next to the bed, dark dents under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept at all either.  Kagami was up in the bed.  His left arm was in a cast and his face bore many bruises and scratches.

“Broken arm, five broken ribs and a torn ligament in my knee,” he said.  He smiled but it was more like a wince. “Could have been worse.”

Kuroko held his hand tightly, careful not to bother the IV.

“You scared the shit out of us,” Aomine said.

“I know.” He turned his mouth and said, “I bet I could still beat you in one-on-one.”

“Sure, Caterer-san.  Let’s get right on that.”

Kuroko looked between them both and smiled softly.  Aomine approached the bed and shifted Kouta to his other arm.

“You wanna hold him?”

Kagami nodded and pulled his good hand out of Kuroko’s.  Aomine handed him over and went to stand by Kuroko.  He took his hand and ran his thumb gently over the tendons on the back of it.  Maybe, he thought, maybe in a way each of them was some sort of Icarus.  It wasn’t just him, playing with fire.  It was the three of them, together.  Still, as he watched Kagami cuddle Kouta against his chest, as he leaned up against Kuroko, he couldn’t help but think it was pretty pleasantly warm on the sun.

**Author's Note:**

> Tatsumi and Korogi are on loan from SharkGirl's fic [Great Expectations](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4155987/chapters/9377172)! Also it saved me the trouble of thinking up names xoxo


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